Clip fastener

ABSTRACT

A clip fastener for securing two angularly displaced abutting panels having cleats along their outer marginal surfaces including a pair of spatially displaced L-shaped wire members each having a substantially 90* angular relationship between the legs of the wire member and with the first and second wire members disposed in a nonparallel relationship to each other and with the end portions of the first and second wire members including inwardly displaced angular extensions and with at least one pair of these angular extensions interconnected for maintaining this spatial relationship between the first and second wire members. Both pairs of the angular extensions can be interconnected with at least one being a continuous interconnection and with the other having an abutting relationship. The abutting relationship may be secured using a weld joint, a crimped sleeve or any other method of maintaining the abutting members affixed to each other.

United States Patent [191 Mellott et al.

[ Nov. 25, 1975 1 CLIP FASTENER [75] inventors: John A. Mellott, RanchoPalos Verdes; Roderick G. Rohrberg, Torrance, both of Calif.

[73] Assignee: Melmat, Inc., Torrance, Calif. 22 Filed: Sept. 3, 1974 21Appl. No.: 502,310

[52] U.S. C1 217/65; 267/182 [51] Int. Cl. B651) 9/34 [58] Field 01'Search 217/65, 69; 267/182 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,388,297 11/1945 Slaughter 217/65 3,082,897 3/1963 Highley 217/65Primary Examiner-James B. Marbert Attorney, Agent, or FirmGeorge F.Smyth [57] ABSTRACT A clip fastener for securing two angularly displacedabutting panels having cleats along their outer marginal surfacesincluding a pair of spatially displaced L-shaped wire members eachhaving a substantially 90 angular relationship between the legs of thewire member and with the first and second wire members disposed in anonparallel relationship to each other and with the end'portions of thefirst and second wire members including inwardly displaced angularextensions and with at least one pair of these angular extensionsinterconnected for maintaining thisspatial rela-v tionship between thefirst and second wire members. Both pairs of the angular extensions canbe interconnected with at least one being a continuous interconnectionand with the other having an abutting relation ship. The abuttingrelationship may be secured using a weld joint, a crimped sleeve or anyother method of maintaining the abutting members affixed to each other.

I 10 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet 1 of23,921,846

US. Patent N0v.25,1975 sheetzom 3,921,846

CLIP FASTENER The present invention is directed to a clip fastenergenerlly constructed out of one piece of spring wire which is bent toform a pair of L-shaped wire members. Each wire member has leg portionssubstantially 90 to each other and with the pair of L-shaped wiremembers having a nonparallel relationship to each other. The ends of theleg portions are bent inwardly and with the inwardly bent portions atone pair of ends integrally connected and with the inwardly bentportions at the other pair of ends abutting each other.

The clip fastener of the present invention is an improvement over a clipfastener currently on the market and disclosed in the Highley U.S. Pat.No. 3,082,897, issued Mar. 26, 1963. The clip fastener shown in theHighley patent is constructed from a piece of spring wire which is bentto form a pair of L-shaped wire members are bent inwardly in a similarfashion to that shown in the present invention.

Generally, the Highley clip fastener has certain difficulties which thepresent invention overcomes. Since the clip fastener is used as aremovable and reusable means of securing wooden box panels with cleatededges, these clip fasteners should be easy to attach and should notbecome distorted out of shape with use. Specifically, the Highley clippatent has an acute angle between the leg portions of the pair of wiremembersand this acute angle is used to create a force to maintain thepanels secured to each other. When the Highley clip fastener isattached,the acute angle tends to stick up and to catch when the completed box ismoved about. This will distort the Highley clip fastener so that oftenonly one of the leg members is holding the box. In addition, after anumber of uses, the Highley clip fastener tends to open up to 90 and insome cases, more than 90 because of the force needed to attach andremove the Highley clip fastener and the ultimate result is that theclip fastener no longer fits the cleated box edges snugly and therebyallows movement between the box panel members. Other difficulties withthe Highley clip fastener is that it needs considerable force and skillto attach it to the cleat portions of the box panels. For example, aspecial hammer-like tool has been developed and should be used in orderto attach and remove the Highley clip fastener.

The present invention overcomes many if not all of the above-mentioneddifficulties with the Highley clip fastener. Specifically, because eachof the leg portions of the wire members is at a 90 angle and because ofthe nonparallel relationship between the wire members, the two wiremembers tend to move towards each other so that the leg portions becomeelongated as the clip fastener is forced over the cleats so that theclip fastener more easily slips over the cleats. Once in position, thewire members move outwardly to force the fasteners tight against thecleats and to lie snugly against the cleats without sticking up from thebox. In addition, the clip fastener of the present invention will fitsnugly against the cleat edges through a relatively wide range of cleatdimensional tolerances, whereas the Highley clip fastener will notprovide such a snug fit for differences in dimensional tolerances.Actually, the clip fasvention comes closer to the edge of the box andthereby makes a stronger corner.

Other improvements with the wire fastener of the present invention is inthe provision of means to secure the abutting edges against each other.This can be accomplished with a permanent joint such as a weld joint orwith a sleeve member such as a crimped sleeve, or by designing the edgesso that one edge is recessed into the other. This helps to preventdistortion of the clip fastener during use.

A clearer understanding of the invention will be had with reference tothe following description and drawings wherein FIGS. 1 and 2 show theclip fastener of the prior art and FIG. 3 illustrates the clipfastenerof the prior art in taining the abutting edges of the clip fastener ofthe present invention in essentially fixed relationship to each other.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the prior art clip fastener, it canbe seen that the clip fastener includes a pair of wire members 10 and I2and with wire member 10 having leg portions 14 and 16and wire member 12having leg portions 18 and 20. As shown in FIG. 1,

which is a side view, only wire member 10 with leg portions 14 and 16 isseen, but it can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 that the angular relationshipbetween the leg portions of each wire member is an acute angle less thanThe ends of the leg portions include inwardly disposed extensions 22 and24 whi'chform loops to interconnect the wire members 10 and 12. The loopextension 22 is continuously, whereas the loop extension 24 has anabutting joint 26.

FIG. 3 illustrates the clip fastener of the prior art positioned tomaintain cleated box panels in position. Specifically, three clipfasteners are generally used at each corner as shown in FIG. 3 andadditional clip fasteners may be used along the edges for additionalsupport. As can be seen in FIG. 3, three box panels 28, 30 and 32 areabutted to form a corner. The box panel 28 has cleats 34 and 36 alongtwo of its edges. Box panel 30 has cleats 38 and 40 along two of itsedges and box panel 32 has cleats 42 and 44 along two of its edges.These six cleat members are attached to the box panels and the clipfasteners extend over the cleatsand lock the back panels together.

Specifically, a clip fastner 46 shown during attachment locks box panels28 and 32 together. A clip fastener 48 locks box panels 30 and 32together, and clip fastner 50 locks box panels 28 and 30 together toform a completely jointed corner. One end extension of one of the clipfasteners such as clip fastener 46 is hooked over the cleat and the clipfastener is then driven over the other cleat with .a force from a hammeror other blunt instrument. During attachment, the acute angle opens upto more than 90. The acute angle of the clip member shown in FIGS. 1 and2 provides the force to lock the cleat members together, but as thecleat member is attached and removed a number of times, this acute angleis gradually opened and the clip member loses its holding force. Inaddition, as the cleats have a tolerance range for some tolerances ofthe cleats wherein the dimensions are small, the acute angle of the wiremembers of the clip of the prior art allows for the clip member to standup away from the box and often these clips can catch against each otheror other objects when the box is moved so as to distort the clipfastener.

A clip fastener according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 4 and5, and as shown attached to cleated box panels in FIG. 6, in FIGS. 4 and5, the clip fastener of the present invention is shown to have a pair ofwire members 100 and 102 and with wire member 100 having leg portions104 and 106 and with wire member 102 having leg portions 108 and 110. Asshown in FIG. 4, which is a side view of the clip fastener of FIG. 5,only the wire member 100 can be seen and the leg portions 104 and 106are at a substantially 90 angle to each other.

The ends of the leg portions include interconnecting loops 112 and 114and with loop 112 being continuous and with the loop 114 having abuttingends as shown at joint 116. The interconnecting loops 114 and 112 extendinwardly to grip the cleat members to maintain box panels engagement. Ascan be seen in FIG. 5, the wire members 100 and 102 are disposed in anonparallel relationship to each other as opposed to the parallelrelationship of the prior art shown in FIG. 2. FIG. also illustratesthat during the attachment of the clip fastener of the present inventionshown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the wire members 100 and 102 will tend to comecloser to each other as shown by the dotted lines which has the effectof elongating the legs 104 through 110 to allow the clip to slip moreeasily over the cleats. This can be seen in FIG. 6, wherein the boxpanels 28, and 32 and the associated cleat members have the samereference characters as shown in FIG. 3.

In FIG. 6, however, a plurality of clip fasteners 118, 120 and 122 isshown locking the box panels into a corner joint. As can be seen, theclip fasteners 118, 120 and 122 have nonparallel wire members and thespacing between the wire members depends on the dimensions of the cleatmembers. Wire fasteners of the present invention thereby adapt todifferent dimensional tolerances for the cleat members. As shown in FIG.5, the clip fastener of the present invention, shown as clip fastener118, when being attached, has its wire members tend to come together toelongate the leg portions. This facilitates the attachment of the clipfastener of the present invention and prevents some of the distortion ofthe clip fastener, during attachment. Once attached, the wire memberstend to spring outwardly to assume the locking position shown in FIG. 6so that the clip fasteners lock snugly against the cleat members. It canalso be seen from a comparison between FIG. 3 and FIG. 6 that because ofthe nonparallel relationship between the wire members, the clip fastenerof the present invention extends outwardly to come closer to 114 whichhas the abutting ends 116 may have the abutting ends secured together soas to provide for a completely integral construction with no possibilityof having one wire member becoming distorted relative to the other wiremember. In FIG. 6, a weld 124 is shown securing the ends 116. In FIG. 8,a sleeve member 126 is shown crimped over the abutting edges 116 tosecure the abutting edges. In FIG. 9, the abutting edges are shown tohave a point entering into a recess so as to secure movement between theabutting ends. It is to be appreciated that other methods may be used toprovide for securing the abutting ends to prevent movement.

The present invention is therefore directed to a clip fastener which isused for securing box panels together which box panels have cleatedmembers along the edge and with the clip fastener being rapidly attachedand removed. Specifically, the invention includes the use of nonparallelwire members and with each wire member having leg portions substantiallyperpendicular to each other so as to have the clip fastener adjust totolerances in the cleated members and to provide for a secure attachmentbetween box panels due to the outward springing force of the nonparallelwire members. Although the invention has been disclosed with referenceto a particular embodiment, it is to be appreciated that otheradaptations and modifications may be made, and the invention is only tobe limited by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A spring wire corner fastener for securing two substantiallyperpendicularly displaced abutting members having cleats along the outermarginal surfaces includmg a pair of spatially displaced L-shapedresilient wire members,

at least a substantial portion of one of the wire members substantiallynonparallel to a complementary portion of the other wire member,

each of the wire members including a pair of leg portions and with theleg portions of each wire member disposed substantially perpendicular toeach other,

a first contiguous interconnecting wire loop forming continuousextensions of first complementary end portions of the wire members andangularly displaced inwardly relative to the L-shaped resilient wiremembers, and

a second interconnecting wire loop forming continuous extensions ofsecond complementary end portions of the wire members and angularlydisplaced inwardly relative to the L-shaped resilient wire members.

2. The spring wire corner fastener of Claim 1 wherein the complementaryleg portions of the wire members extend outwardly from each other tohave the wire members nonparallel to each other throughout their entirelength.

3. The spring wire corner fastener of claim 2 wherein the spacingbetween the wire members is at its greatest at the intersection of theleg portions of the pair of wire members.

4. The spring wire corner fastener of claim 1 wherein ends of thecontinuous extentions forming the second interconnecting wire loop abuteach other.

5. The spring wire corner fastener of claim 4 additionally includingmeans for securing the abutting ends of the continuous extentions.

6. A clip fastener including,

a first L-shpaed wire member having a substantially 90 angularrelationship between the legs of the 6 tions interconnected formaintaining the spatial relationship between the first and secondL-shaped wire members. 7. The clip fastener of claim 6 wherein the legsof the 5 first wire member are nonparallel to the legs of the sec- 0ndwire member throughout their length.

8. The clip fastener of claim 7 wherein the first and second wiremembers extend outwardly from each other.

9. The clip fastener of claim 6 wherein the ends of the other pair ofangular extentions abut each other.

10. The clip fastener of claim 9 additionally including means forsecuring the abutting ends of the angular extentions.

1. A spring wire corner fastener for securing two substantiallyperpendicularly displaced abutting members having cleats along the outermarginal surfaces including a pair of spatially displaced L-shapedresilient wire members, at least a substantial portion of one of thewire members substantially nonparallel to a complementary portion of theother wire member, each of the wire members including a pair of legportions and with the leg portions of each wire member disposedsubstantially perpendicular to each other, a first contiguousinterconnecting wire loop forming continuous extensions of firstcomplementary end portions of the wire members and angularly displacedinwardly relative to the Lshaped resilient wire members, and a secondinterconnecting wire loop forming continuous extensions of secondcomplementary end portions of the wire members and angularly displacedinwardly relative to the L-shaped resilient wire members.
 2. The springwire corner fastener of Claim 1 wherein the complementary leg portionsof the wire members extend outwardly from each other to have the wiremembers nonparallel to each other throughout their entire length.
 3. Thespring wire corner fastener of claim 2 wherein the spacing between thewire members is at its greatest at the intersection of the leg portionsof the pair of wire members.
 4. The spring wire corner fastener of claim1 wherein ends of the continuous extentions forming the secondinterconnecting wire loop abut each other.
 5. The spring wire cornerfastener of claim 4 additionally including means for securing theabutting ends of the continuous extentions.
 6. A clip fastenerincluding, a first L-shpaed wire member having a substantially 90*angular relationship between the legs of the first L-shaped wire member,a second L-shaped wire member having a substantially 90* angularrelationship between the legs of the second L-shaped wire member, thefirst and second L-shaped wire members spatially disposed relative toeach other and with a substantial portion of the first L-shaped wiremember in a substantially nonparallel relationship to a complementaryportion of the second L-shaped wire member, and the ends of the firstand second L-shaped wire members including angular extentions displacedinwardly and with at least one pair of angular extentions interconnectedfor maintaining the spatial relationship between the first and secondL-shaped wire members.
 7. The clip fastener of claim 6 wherein the legsof the first wire member are nonparallel to the legs of the second wiRemember throughout their length.
 8. The clip fastener of claim 7 whereinthe first and second wire members extend outwardly from each other. 9.The clip fastener of claim 6 wherein the ends of the other pair ofangular extentions abut each other.
 10. The clip fastener of claim 9additionally including means for securing the abutting ends of theangular extentions.